


Love is a Lifetime of Decisions

by sherlocks_skeletal_warlock



Series: But if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all? [3]
Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Fluffy, M/M, Malec, Slight Hurt/Comfort, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2017-09-28
Packaged: 2019-01-06 15:13:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12213429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sherlocks_skeletal_warlock/pseuds/sherlocks_skeletal_warlock
Summary: Alec Lightwood had always been the perfect Shadowhunter, with his perfect Red Kite daemon. He had always intended on being the perfect Shadowhunter, no matter how much he hated it.Until he met Magnus Bane. And then, things became a lot more complicated.





	Love is a Lifetime of Decisions

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all!  
> So, there's a lot less canon divergence in this one. Basically, everything is the same, but also everyone has daemons. It's all good fun.  
> I hope you enjoy it!

Birds were a common daemon for Shadowhunters. Birds and big cats. Alec Lightwood was glad that he had managed to live up to that particular Shadowhunter trope as his daemon, his gentle but fierce Nieven, had settled as a Red Kite immediately after he had made his _parabati_ bond with Jace. It was even better that Jace’s daemon, Zentha, had also settled as a bird, her form settled as a gyrfalcon. The Clave said that it showed that they were brothers now, their souls intertwined in a common species.

Nieven had made Alec’s life a little easier for a long time. He was the perfect little Shadowhunter, with his Red Kite daemon who could spot aerial issues before they became threats and was unswervingly loyal to the Clave. Nieven had made it easier for Isabelle to fly below the radar with her daemon, a lean lioness by the name of Alenia. Because as long as Alec and Nieven were perfect, Isabelle was left alone by the Clave. Their mother could harp on at her, but the Clave ignored her.

Alec had always thought that that was what he had to be. Perfect. Perfect to protect his family, the only ones he truly cared about.

And then he met Magnus Bane.

Magnus was everything that the Clave hated. His daemon was almost domestic, a tiny tabby cat by the name of Chairman Meow, which Alec had originally felt didn’t fit with his vicious reputation and flamboyant personality. But Alec came to realise that the Chairman’s form embodied his changeable nature, like all cats, the way people underestimated him because he was a Downworlder and how fierce he could be if he wanted to.

Love at first sight was a little strong, but the way Magnus had asked his name, those glamoured eyes trailing up and down his chest, had made Alec’s heart jump. Nieven had shuddered on his shoulder.

He had spoken to Clary about it, completely by accident, several days later. Clary had annoyed him at first, with her observant fox daemon and the way she had swept Jace off within moments of knowing him. But Alec was beginning to like her. She had asked about daemons and the races and Alec had shrugged. He explained that it was more common for Shadowhunters to have predatory animals as their daemons. They were warriors after all. Seelies usually had insects as daemons, beautiful butterflies or fireflies, due to their beliefs about nature. It was more common for vampires and werewolves to have nocturnal creatures as their daemons, as that was when they were most active. The change of becoming a vampire or a werewolf could allow the daemon a short period of form-change, like a child’s, due to the change in the person’s soul by the transformation.

“Bats!” Clary had exclaimed and Alec had chuckled, before saying,

“Yeah, that’s probably where the myth that vampires can turn into bats came from. It’s a pretty common form for a vampire’s daemon.”

And then she had asked about warlocks and Alec had thought about Magnus. Magnus with his tiny tabby cat for a daemon. No one knew about warlock’s daemons. There was no pattern to their form, no cultural explanations, nothing.

And that only made them more fascinating.

* * *

 

Alec had wanted to know more about this. He had wanted to know more about Magnus, to give into the desires that he tried to bury deep within himself. But then Lydia had arrived, with her snowy owl daemon, gorgeous and deadly and Alec grasped the opportunity to be a perfect Shadowhunter.

The proposal and the idea had been anything but romantic. Alec knew, Nieven often gently reminding him, that he was not attracted to women, not even women as impressive as Lydia. But he had to be the perfect Shadowhunter. Nieven had helped him with that so far; he wasn’t about to stop now.

But Magnus had persisted. He had flirted and teased and left Nieven ruffled and unable to concentrate, never mind Alec.

And then he had shown up at the wedding. Nieven had hissed in his ear from his perch on Alec’s shoulder that this was the last chance he was going to get.

The last chance to not be perfect.

He had looked at Lydia, so beautiful but beautiful like an orchid, not like a person. He apologised, she deserved that much, and then he ran.

Kissing Magnus was incredible. Alec didn’t care how many people were looking because he could feel Chairman Meow wrapping around their legs and Nieven raising his wings as though to shield them. Alec had made his decision, with a little help from his soul, his sister and his _parabati_ , to choose love, not perfection.

And, as Alec pulled away from Magnus to take a deep breath, his eyes fixed on the Warlock, he thought that perhaps, perfection was an unnecessary, unhelpful concept. Besides, the Clave had never thanked him for his perfection. Love was a much better decision.

“Well, Alexander, you certainly know how to make a statement,” Magnus said, absently running one hand through his hair and the other over Alec’s lapels gently. Alec chuckled softly, his cheeks darkening.

“I guess so.”

* * *

 

Later, after his siblings had congratulated him and his parents had expressed their deep and unending disappointment, Alec had a moment alone with Magnus. They were sat in one of the Institute’s corridors, Chairman Meow curled up at their feet, Nieven sat on Alec’s shoulder comfortably.

“What made you change your mind?” asked Magnus softly.

“Nieven,” he responded truthfully. “He reminded me that this would be my last chance to take control, to have you and not be the Clave’s perfect little soldier.” Magnus inclined his head to the Red Kite on Alec’s shoulder.

“Well, I am very grateful he did.” Nieven chittered proudly and Alec smiled, easily.

“What made you come to the wedding?” Alec asked.

The smile on Magnus’s face grew sadder and he pet the Chairman’s head, almost absently.

“Ragnor. He told me that I should never stop fighting for the love that had allowed me to open my heart after so many years of not feeling.” Alec didn’t question how Ragnor Fell, who had died not two days earlier, had told him this. He knew the wounds were still sore for Magnus.

“I’m sorry.” Anyone else would have asked what for, or why, but Magnus just nodded. He seemed to understand that Alec wasn’t apologising for what happened to Ragnor. He was apologising because he wanted to make it better, but he didn’t know how.

Magnus leaned his head on Alec’s free shoulder and gave a soft sigh.

“I can’t express how glad I am that you chose me.” Nieven chittered softly and Alec was reminded of the weight of his decision. He had chosen love.

“I’m sorry for what I said earlier. About how you don’t risk anything. I was wrong. Coming here, today, to confront me like that… You risked everything. You risked your heart and your safety to prove to me that I could make a choice that I hadn’t before considered. You’re truly something else, Magnus Bane.” Magnus opened his mouth, probably to say something profound about choices when Chairman Meow huffed angrily from his spot at Alec’s feet and they both laughed. “As are you, Chairman, of course.” Alec waved a hand to emphasise his point but avoided contact with the Chairman. Touching another’s daemon was something completely frowned upon in the Shadowhunter community. It could hurt, a lot.

Besides, would you let someone touch your soul? It wasn’t done.

But Magnus said, softly,

“You can touch him, if you like. Carefully, of course.” Alec froze. “I mean, I, I trust you Alec. Like you said before, I don’t quite know why, but I do.” And so, Alec gently stroked his fingers over Chairman Meow’s head. Both him and Magnus shivered at first but then, the cat pressed into his touch and Magnus relaxed. It was a kind of intimacy that Alec had never even considered before.

“You, um, you can touch Nieven if you like?” He offered. Magnus frowned up at him.

“You’re not just offering because I said-”

“No, no! I just… I trust you. And I want to know what it feels like.” Magnus trailed one finger over Nieven’s feathered head and all of Alec’s muscles trembled.

It felt personal. It felt like Magnus had just seen all his darkest secrets and said nothing. It felt like Magnus had ripped open his chest simply to gently put him back together.

It was exhilarating and terrifying and wondrous all at the same time. Neither of them put it into words, they just sat there, gently stroking each other’s daemons.

* * *

 

And when exhaustion took over, Alec merely burrowed into Magnus’s neck and settled into a dreamless sleep as the warlock dozed off beside him.

Isabelle and Alenia found them at daybreak, curled up in an unused corridor, Nieven’s wings draped protectively over Chairman Meow.

This was the choice Alec had made. The choice to base his relationship on love and trust. And that would only make it stronger.

**Author's Note:**

> Title is paraphrased from a section of Welcome to Night Vale, by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor.  
> I think this one may become a series in it's own right, I just love daemons.


End file.
